Internet drug dealing on the rise thanks to Bitcoin currency and coded listings

Internet drug dealing on the rise thanks to Bitcoin currency and coded listings By James Ball, The Guardian Thursday, April 18, 2013 22:47 EDT Topics: Global Drugs Survey ♦ illicit drugs Tweet Email Tweet Email The internet is starting to rival the backstreet as a place to buy illicit drugs, according to findings from the 2013 Global Drugs Survey , with 22% of users reporting the had bought drugs online. The online marketplace Silk Road has risen to notoriety in recent years as essentially an eBay for drugs: a service operating where law enforcement can’t trace the computers of sellers or buyers, where transactions use the anonymous and untraceable online currency Bitcoin . But responses to the Global Drug Survey, an annual academic research poll with more than 7,000 UK respondents, suggest Silk Road is merely the most visible aspect of a much wider phenomenon. Just under ...